Danish schools project Rakhmari Jand (Attock) moves at a snail’s pace

ATTOCK, April 23, 2011: In the absence of sufficient manpower, machinery and site laboratory, the Rs220 million Daanish school project in remote area of Rakhmari village of Jand tehsil is moving at a very slow pace, Dawn has learnt.
Resident Engineer, National Engineering Services Pakistan (Nespak), who has been assigned by the Punjab government to monitor the project, in a letter to the district coordination officer (DCO) said the progress on the project was very slow.
He said in addition to insufficient manpower the project was not given proper attention by the contractor.
He demanded of the DCO to provide sufficient technical staff, equipment, machinery besides ensuring uninterrupted water and power supply. He also sought setting up of site office and laboratory at the project site to judge the quality of material and other works as per prescribed specification.
Moreover, contractor should increase manpower and ensure timely procurement of construction material, he said.
The DCO Shakeel Ahmed said that soon after receiving the letter from the consultant, they had taken steps to address all the issues pointed out by the consultant.
Initially, the contractor faced problem as his bill for another project in Chistia was stuck but now he had managed the affairs and construction work was going properly, he explained. The DCO said that commencement date of the project was February 5 and it would be completed in nine months.
Earlier, the site of the school was changed by the authorities of Punjab Daanish School System (PDSS).
The project’s design/plan consultant MS Sohail Saeed & Associates in a report in September 2009 had declared the site not suitable as it was located in a remote area having difficult, inadequate road access and serious security hazards.
After change in location, the contractor was hired and the master plan issued in January this year.
Under the Daanish School System, four PDSS projects were proposed at four different rural areas of the Attock district including Dara Dangain village in Hazro Tehsil, Barotha village in Attock tehsil, Khuda village in Hasanabdal tehsil and Rakh Mari village in Jand Tehsil .
Out of these four projects, the Punjab government initially approved the project of Jand tehsil in first phase to accommodate about 450 students and allocated funds of Rs220 million for it